JOK*

i like geo beagle best. it works best with gpx files though. in order to get the gpx files from geocaching.com you will need to be a premium member. so for $30/yr + the free app you will be set. geo beagle can also search for caches near you if you have a data connection so you can do caching almost any where any time. the way its integrated with google maps makes it work very well and very easy to use. i have found 2000+ in a little over a year.

i use my droid (the first one, motorola). i bought 3 different gpsr because everyone told me they are better. they are wrong. maybe to hide a cache you can get a few feet better accuracy for the coordinates. big deal, put a better description or hint if you're worried those couple feet will hurt. what i haven't seen mentioned here is the fact that from anywhere i can get internet service i can get a notification, get to the cache page, download the gpx file, read past logs, hint and full description, see the satellite image, get driving directions to the cache with real time traffic and weather updates...ALL WITHIN MINUTES! i use geobeagle most of the time. i download all the gpx files i need for the day, load them onto my phone and use the map to get from cache to cache. when i get there i have an arrow pointing the direction to go, the sat. image with an arrow pointing where to look and the description and hint. i do not log from my phone, but can if i choose to. i do log it, but use the option to log to a notepad file just a simple 'found it' or 'dnf'. with that info i take it home and log our caches for the day.

I have a cache that is in the water... http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...88-0bafdf268540

i figured it out. nothing would show in anything, POI included. the problem was that my 'home' or 'center' coordinates were still set in the unit as the coords put in there by the previous owner. it was set to show closest points within 80 miles...so nothing i added was that close. it should have determined where i was via the satellites, but whatever... it works now. thanks

i got the garmin communicator, seemed like the easiest way to get a gpx file onto here. it shows up, i hit write and it says successful, but nothing shows under the geocache screen on the gps. the first day i got the gps i installed the 'manager' disc that came with the unit, i do no like it though and uninstalled it. is there something i am missing that will make the communicator work right?

I sent an email to Groundspeak and the administrator suggested i post the topic here to get some feedback and maybe get the idea moving along. The difficulty and terrain settings (when you hit 'try this system') works very well and helps me out a lot. The problem is when i have an Urban hide. First example i will use... I have a hide on an electric pole in an alley. The cache is in a PVC pipe attached to the pole. What is not known here is that to get to it you have to get about 12 feet up the pole to retrieve it. According the the current rating system this is still a terrain 1 because it is asphalt, no overgrown weeds to whack through and there is no significant hike involved. The only thing that might help is an elevation change, but that is more of a hint and not applied correctly here since this is meant to refer to the walk to the cache area. I have another hide that is off a bike path mixed in with mulch. I ended up giving this a 2 for terrain since it would be difficult to actually ride your bike through the mulch and nearly impossible to take a wheelchair. It was near a tree, only because i wanted a landmark to check coordinate accuracy vs the map and to retrieve if maintenance is needed. One of the first to look for this one was climbing in the tree looking for the cache and blamed me because the terrain was set at 2. So, I have gone back and forth with the terrain setting in Urban areas. If there was a separate rating system for Urban hides and a simple way to distinguish an Urban hide it would make things easier for the hider and the seeker. Maybe next to the star system put a little U in the corner, then when you see a 3* you know its not on the sidewalk, you might have to climb that tree.